Ifeanyi Vincent Ntukogu image via New Life Pharmacy website

Fresno residents Ifeanyi Vincent Ntukogu, 49, and Kelo White, 43, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to distribute and distributing oxycodone and hydrocodone, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court records, from December 2014 through November 2018, in Madera and Fresno, Ntukogu dispensed over 200,000 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills based on prescriptions delivered to him by White and co-defendant Donald Ray Pierre, 55, of Fresno, that they knew were forged and fraudulent.

Ntukogu reviewed each prescription and rejected the ones that he believed regulators may deem suspicious. For example, Ntukogu rejected prescriptions that were written by certain doctors or that were written for individuals who were having prescriptions filled at other pharmacies. He also alerted White and Pierre when the required language on the prescription pads changed.

Ntukogu dispensed the pills through his New Life Pharmacy in Madera. Upon doing so, he required cash payments from White and Pierre and increased the price that he charged over time.

Ntukogu, Pierre and White were indicted in April 2019.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the California Department of Health Care Services. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Antonio Pataca and Joseph Barton are prosecuting the case.

Ntukogu and White are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 23. They face statutory maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the conspiracy to distribute and distribution convictions.

Pierre, the other defendant in the case, was previously convicted and sentenced to nine years and four months in prison.